A former rector at a residence hall at the University of Notre Dame frequently weighed male students naked and alone in a deserted locker room and engaged in unwanted sexual contact with some of them during a 17-year span in the 1980s and 1990s, an investigative report commissioned by the university found.
Victims told the investigator that they reported the behavior of Holy Cross Father Thomas King to various Notre Dame officials over the course of several years, but that inquiries and follow-up were slow and lackluster, the report found.
“While Notre Dame’s commitment to addressing clergy abuse has been clear, the University’s execution has been inconsistent,” states the 25-page report by Helen Cantwell, a lawyer with the New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, which Notre Dame hired to investigate the allegations in September 2025.
The report, released Thursday by the university and based on over 100 interviews over a nine-month period, says investigators have confirmed that 15 male students at Notre Dame and nearby Holy Cross College were weighed naked or nearly so by Father King, who served as rector of Zahm Hall, a men’s residence, from 1980 to 1997.
“Beyond the weighing scheme, Debevoise also found that multiple individuals, some of whom were weighed, were sexually touched or assaulted by Father King, both at Notre Dame and after he left,” the report states.
Continue reading at National Catholic Register
v